Well established, UK-based higher education institution Bishop Grosseteste University has selected the student engagement solution MyDay, developed by Collabco, as its preferred online learning collaboration tool. The solution leverages off the collaborative qualities inherent in Microsoft Office365 and Lync to improve the engagement and learning experience for students.

Since 1862 Bishop Grosseteste University has offered high quality courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate level – as well as a variety of opportunities for professional development.

In its bid to organise a central repository for information sharing and make a significant and lasting difference to student engagement and their ability to manage their entire University experience, the Institution invested in Collabco’s flagship product – MyDay.

Head of IT at Bishop Grosseteste University, Richard Corn, described the offering as an ideal solution.

“We could see the benefits of MyDay’s aggregating capabilities. It simply pulls together all the information a student needs and provides it to them in a format they want and can engage with. It is presented on any Web-enabled device and was just what we were looking for!” he said.

“Furthermore, because it integrates with Microsoft Office 365 and Lync it would enable BGU to improve collaboration, student engagement and facilitate in enabling us to evolve our pedagogy in areas like work-based learning.”

Empowerment of staff and students

A user-friendly and attractive interface makes it easy for students to take advantage of the collaborative benefits of Microsoft Office365 and Lync. MyDay also ensures the University’s brand is carried forward across all interfaces, creating a familiar environment for staff and students regardless of location or device being used.

MyDay’s student portal was rolled out in a matter of weeks, and proved how cost effective and easy the solution was to implement. The University has also identified the potential of MyDay to provide rapid access to necessary information in a timely manner for staff.

Planning has already started for a rollout of MyDay in the summer term to bring the modern and engaging dashboard style presentation to its staff users.

Richard has also identified process improvements enabled by the use of SharePoint Online for both students and staff. SharePoint Online is the intranet module of Microsoft Office 365, MyDay enhances collaborative learning by utilising the features of the Office 365 platform it is built on, exposing its capabilities in an enhanced, dynamic and engaging manner.

One of the process transformations introduced will be the way the university approves announcements and notifications. Through the MyDay portal the university will allow staff to publish announcements and event notifications to students. This will improve communication flow and the fact that the more updates and feedback a student receives, the more engaged with the institution they feel and consequently the better they perform in their studies.

Brendan Nel, Managing Director at Collabco, explains how the solution is expected to add value to the University going forward.

“The MyDay platform will allow Bishop Grosseteste University to present their current and future systems to staff and students in an engaging format, whilst taking advantage of the great collaboration features in Office 365 such as SharePoint Online and Lync Online. The platform will grow with the University as they add more systems and present more data to their users, forming a great engagement platform for years to come. The MyDay platform will enable the University to pull through its systems in an accelerated, consistent manner, delivering them to the end users in a familiar style and format,” says Nel.

The Company believes that as students become more engaged and more interactive across virtual learning environments, the more value will be gained from its technology, expertise and knowledge of the market.

“MyDay is a proven world-class information delivery platform for educational establishments. By offering easy access to existing information on internal and external systems, it can help to improve student engagement and cost-effectively facilitate work-based learning,” adds Nel.